Skip to main content

Patterns

             What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. (II Timothy 1:13-14)

          Worldview: a comprehensive conception or apprehension of the world, particularly from a specific standpoint. It represents the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society, encompassing their knowledge, culture, and point of view. Additionally, it can be described as a philosophy of the universe and humanity's relation to it (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, online.)

          A worldview is or includes one’s knowledge, culture, and point of view, and it is one’s philosophy of the universe and our relation to it. As such, it is indistinguishable from one’s religion. This does not mean that one’s worldview is (by definition) the same as the established doctrines of one’s faith, because even though people profess to believe all that their religion teaches, we tend to have some points where we’re not really comfortable saying, “Yep, that’s absolutely right!” Worldviews are ultimately individual.

          What’s more, a worldview is only as good as its correlation to reality. Using a ridiculous example, having a worldview that American Bison are fluffy cows with which you can safely take selfies is not likely to end well. Similarly, selfies with cute, cuddly bear cubs on a trail somewhere. Worldviews worthy of our acceptance stay as close to reality as possible. Since wisdom involves dealing with what’s really real, one’s goal should be to have a worldview that is wise.

          One of the challenges of worldviews is internal consistency. This is a point on which we need to be careful. Sometimes, people begin with their worldview or their presupposition and judge someone else’s statement as being wrong because it is not consistent with the people’s. Some people claim that a Christian worldview is inconsistent with the Bible if the Christian eats ham. Acts 10 and 15, and several of the Epistles make it clear that the Jewish Law was not and should not be imposed on the Gentile Church as a monolithic whole.

          That being said, in today’s passage Paul told Timothy to keep what his teaching as a pattern for sound teaching. What Paul taught was consistent with what Jesus taught, and what Jesus taught was consistent with the morality of the Old Testament, if not with the every exhaustive detail. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more